


A Fistful of Flowers

by SlytherinTeam



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:34:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26526064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlytherinTeam/pseuds/SlytherinTeam
Summary: Severus Snape is a poor, working-class kid growing up in a rough neighborhood in 1970s Brooklyn, New York with his struggling, single, artist mother, Eileen.Lily and Petunia Evans are middle-class kids who live ten blocks from Severus, on the other side of the park that separates the lower-class neighborhood from the more respectable one.A non-magic, slice of life AU series of one-shots featuring the complicated relationship between the Evans sisters and the Evans sisters and Severus Snape.. Some Snily moments & some Snetunia (SnapexPetunia) moments. Bickering, angst & shenanigans galore!
Kudos: 4





	1. Sweet Tea in the Summer (Lily & Tuney)

**Author's Note:**

> I plan on writing a bunch of one-shots, some in which Lily, Petunia and Severus are children, some in which they’re teens, and perhaps a few in which they’re adults.
> 
> Fair warning - I love Sev and Lily as friends but I’m not a Snily shipper, so I won’t have them be together as adults (so if you’re looking for a Snily endgame, this won’t be it. I have the canon Jily in mind as I write this. But there will be Snily moments in the children and teen one-shots) 
> 
> Additionally, I’m quite fond of pairing Sev with Petunia…. Just another warning if that’s not your thing. 
> 
> Other characters of the Marauders-era, such as the marauders (of course), Lucius, Narcissa, Dumbledore, Regulus, etc. will probably make appearances. Eileen Prince, Snape’s mother, will of course be present. 
> 
> Although this is a non-magic AU, there will be spiritualism, the occult, ghosts, and psychic abilities. So sixth sense stuff, not Hogwarts type magic
> 
> I will kick off a lot of the chapters with relevant song lyrics, just for fun, but not sure if I’ll do that for every chapter...
> 
> Finally, I will update this series sporadically and there’s no order, as it’s just one-shots, but I will try to have a progression from them as children, to teens, to adults. The length and depth of each piece will probably vary.
> 
> *Petunia is 2 years older than Lily and Severus 
> 
> **Some of these pieces will deal with heavy topics, such as suicidal ideation, mental illness, abuse, bullying, etc. I will try to put appropriate content warnings when necessary. I will add tags as I go. Please tread lightly.

“Sweet tea in the summer  
Cross your heart won't tell no other-  
Your braids like a pattern  
Love you to the moon and to Saturn”

_Seven_ , Taylor Swift

_Summer, 1970 - Brooklyn, New York_

“We’ll have our very own flower shop! We’ll give it a cute, fitting name - like “Twin Leaves,” or “Perfect Petals,” and we’ll make beautiful bouquets filled with our flowers, lilies and petunias!” Ten-year old Lily giggled as she fell into the grass with her older sister.

“When we’re older we’ll marry twin brothers and live in cottages side by side and we’ll both only have daughters and all of them will be named after flowers too, a Rose, a Daisy, a Violet, a Peony!” Twelve-year old Petunia proclaimed excitedly.

Lily nodded her head in enthusiastic approval. “Wait!” She shouted and stood up. “What if we have a tea shop too!”

“A tea salon!” Petunia corrected, making the concept sound even more refined and elegant. “Oh, or parlor, The Lily & Petunia Parlor, or Lily & Petunia’s Parlor!”

The Evans sisters carried on like this all afternoon, imagining their future family business in the park a few blocks from their beautiful Brownstone home. They discussed the details as they braided each other’s hair with little flowers they had found among the weeds.

They were still so young. Petunia was two years away from entering high school and Lily had only just reached double digits. They were still best friends.

The realities of growing up hadn't hit them yet, hadn’t come flying in like a wrecking ball to sever their sisterly bond.

These were the good old days, their last memories of true, innocent sisterly affection.

The sisters savored these days, even without knowing what would come to pass in the future.

“I can’t tell you! Not unless you cross your heart and promise you won’t tell anyone. Cross your heart and hope to die if YOU DO tell someone!” Petunia exclaimed.

“Cross my heart and hope to die!” Lily promised, as she crossed her hand over her heart in an exaggerated manner.

Petunia then whispered in her ear the name of the boy in her class who she thought was cute. This sent Lily into another fit of giggles as she proceeded to run around the open fields, shouting, “Tuney loves Steven!”

“You awful liar, you! I should have known!” The elder sister yelled in a fit of rage, chasing her pesky little sister around until she could grab hold of the girl and teach her a lesson.

“I’m never sharing a secret with you again, you obnoxious brat you.” Petunia huffed, out of breath now from all the chasing. 

Lily flashed an impish smile at her vexed older sister. Petunia swore the girl wasn’t human sometimes, but rather a mischievous little sprite that she was cursed to deal with. 

She certainly looked like one of those fairies or woodland elves from the Irish story books they had at home, what with her gorgeous mane of thick, flaming red hair, her bright, emerald green eyes, and her porcelain skin with just a few cute freckles here and there.

For a moment, Petunia glanced at her own reflection in the pond nearby. She had very thin, fine blonde hair that was dull in color, and her eyes were blue but a very pale, almost grey kind of blue, not at all lustrous like her sister’s. Lily was growing into a rare and unusual beauty, Petunia realized. While she herself, was really, rather plain. A pang of longing and envy welled up inside of her, as her most toxic vice- comparing herself to her sister- was beginning to surface.

“It’s getting late. If we don’t get home soon we’ll get in trouble and by we, I mean me, because I’m the older one so mom always lectures me not you.” Petunia chided, rolling her eyes at the last bit as she thought about all the times her mother had reprimanded her for staying out too late, while Lily got off the hook.

“Okay, Tuney, let’s go home. I hope there’s still some sweet tea left in the fridge.”

“If there isn’t, I know who drank it all.” Petunia crossed her arms, belying the levity of her tone.

Lily gave a guilty half-smile and then linked arms with her peevish older sister, who couldn’t help but find the younger girl’s affection endearing, even if she was an annoying pest with a big mouth.”

“Love you to the moon and to saturn, Tuney.” Lily replied in a sing-song voice, using her infectious charm to lessen her sister’s irritation. 

Petunia sighed and shook her head. “Whatever you say, Lils, come on.”

In their minds, the sisters were destined to grow together, always.

In reality, they were destined to grow apart.


	2. Silent All These Years (Eileen & Severus)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is heavy. It deals with suicidal ideation, attempted suicide, mentions of domestic abuse, racism, classism, poverty, alcoholism, mental illness, and stigma towards mental illness. Please tread lightly.

“I got twenty-five bucks and a cracker  
Do you think it’s enough  
To get us there?  
\-------------------------  
Hey, but I don’t care  
‘Cause Sometimes  
I said sometimes  
I hear my voice  
And it’s been here  
Silent all these  
\-----------------------  
Years go by  
Will I still be waiting  
For somebody else to understand?  
Years go by  
If I’m stripped of my beauty  
And the orange clouds  
Raining in my head  
Years go by  
Will I choke on my tears  
‘Till finally there is nothing left?  
\------------------------  
I hear my voice  
And it’s been  
Here  
Silent all these years  
\-------------------------  
I’ve been here  
Silent all these years  
Silent all these  
Silent all these years

 _-Silent All These Years_ , Tori Amos

_Summer, 1970 - Brooklyn, New York_

Art, music, mysticism and her son, Severus - these were the only things that kept Eileen Snape née Prince, going.

A single mother and a struggling artist on welfare, Eileen lived in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods, in one of the most filthy and crime-ridden cities. The public housing apartment she occupied with her now ten-year old son was tiny, dirty and dingy.

It was stressful enough- trying to make a living as an artist, but not having any studio space amplified the stress tenfold. 

It was also stressful enough being a mother, but being a single mother who struggled to raise her child, the light of her bleak life? That was hellish.

But Eileen, in spite of all the bad choices she had made, deserved some credit. Very few people had a survivor’s instinct quite as strong as hers. Eileen Snape was a snake: cunning, protective and sly. She knew how to make even one penny stretch.

Smoking on the fire escape as the summer sun rose, Eileen recalled the day that she had seriously come close to committing suicide.

Just a year ago, when her son, Severus, was nine, his father, Tobias Snape, walked out on them after years of his abuse and alcoholic tirades, Eileen, on top of all this, was diagnosed with manic depression.

It was not the illness that nearly drove her to suicide, but rather the fear that she would be deemed unfit to be a parent and have her son, her little prince - for as much contempt as she had for the Prince family that disowned her, it still made her happy to think of her son as a prince in the other sense- taken from her.

The nightmares nearly drove her mad, the ones that haunted her the weeks leading up to the visit from the social worker. Sometimes, she would curl up into the fetal position, feeling as weak and helpless as an infant, wishing she had a mother in her life.

Eileen was never expecting to get the best mom of the year award. There were legitimately times when her drive to create art or one of her depressive or manic episodes, led her to neglect her son. There were times when she did nothing all day except sit in the apartment with all the windows closed and curtains drawn, listening to old records in the dark as she dwelled on daydreams and reminisced about the past.

Despite her worries about him being the source of much of her pain, Severus also gave her strength. The boy, the boy she had birthed, was brilliant. In the face of poverty, neglect and abuse, the little prince did not wilt and wither-he stood by his mother, he studied hard- his curiosity was boundless, he persevered. 

Eileen had high hopes for his future, not just because he was her son and she wanted him to succeed in life, but also because he was truly gifted and he amazed her everyday with his capacity for wisdom and retaining knowledge at such a young age.

The night before the social worker’s visit, Eileen contemplated jumping off the fire escape or swallowing all of the lithium she was taking to manage her condition. Lithium had only just been put on the market that year and she could barely afford it on top of all her other expenses. Besides, she preferred to self-medicate with her own herbal remedies, believing they were more potent and imbued with natural healing properties. She wavered between throwing all the lithium out or taking it all at once and ending her struggles once and for all. 

The universe, God, the spirits, her ancestors, someone was looking out for her that night. She didn’t follow through on her suicidal thoughts. Instead, she meditated, as she often did, and she had visions, and then she began painting, all through the night. She produced one of her favorite works that night: an oil painting featuring the benevolent ghosts who guided her through her most difficult times.

In the morning, her prayers were answered. She was single, she chain-smoked (always outside), she was poor and she suffered from a highly-stigmatized and misunderstood mental illness, but she was still a mother. She wasn’t deemed unfit. The social worker didn’t think her manic depression was severe enough to warrant taking her child away and he was actually quite impressed with her talent as an artist and with her son’s wit. 

That night, Eileen celebrated. She remembered splurging on a cake from the supermarket, the kind with various layers and colors of frosting and buttercream flowers on top. Not only did she savor every bite of that cake, but so did Severus and though it was a small thing, Eileen felt proud that she could give it to him. He deserved so much more and she was going to keep trying, for both of them, but mostly for him.

Eileen had always been a proud woman. You couldn’t be a Prince- even a former one- and not be proud; it was in their blood.

But oh, how she had fallen from grace.

What would her regal family think if they could see how in shambles her life was now? They’d probably say she deserved it.

The Prince family, an old English family that had come to America, to New England, a very long time ago, were actually related to Western European princes and other royalty. They brought with them, not only a long and noble history, but also a slew of secrets and hidden scandals.

These secrets and scandals were largely unknown to the young Prince girl, until in her teen years, when her interest in her ancestry and her love of a good mystery got the better of her, and she began to unravel the clues.

The girl who grew up among the New England elite, in mansions and boarding schools, spending summers in Europe even, slowly became disenchanted with her world.

All the snooping led her to exactly what she didn’t want to know, or couldn’t handle knowing - her father’s seedy business deals and embezzlement, her mother’s bribery and conniving ways, the mentally challenged cousins who were kept out of the public eye and treated like vermin, the casual racist comments and supriority complexes -and worst of all, the evidence she had found that pointed to her parents involvement in a human trafficking ring. To this day, she still hadn’t told a soul about that, not even the husband she was now separated from. She wondered if the truth would ever come out. The guilt plagued her and probably played some role in her occasional episodes of insomnia.

In defiance of her family’s old ways, their elitism and their disgusting behavior, Eileen had gotten very involved in politics and became a socialist. She dropped out of her ivy league elite New England college and moved to New York City to pursue dreams of being an artist. She mixed and mingled with people from middle and working class backgrounds. She met Tobias Snape, a laborer of mixed Scottish, Italian and Puerto Rican heritage - a poor man of mixed-blood who represented everything her family looked down upon and detested.

Tobias was good to her at first. He hadn’t known of her background at all at first. He thought she was a lower-middle class girl from Boston who was trying to make it in New York. They shared dreams, and visions and passions. 

Then Eileen, at age 22, got pregnant and at that time, a pregnancy meant a marriage, so she and Tobias married. That was the final straw. The Prince family promptly disowned her, for being a “fallen woman,” one who got pregnant out of wedlock and for marrying someone they saw as beneath them.

Life only got worse from there. Not only did Eileen no longer have any help from her family, but Tobias slowly started to turn against her as well after they married. He learned the truth of her upbringing and thought her a fool, a silly, naive, rich girl “playing poor” he had said. He felt angry at her, for having had everything and throwing it all away and he felt angry at himself for unknowingly doing that to her.

Finally, he also started to learn about another aspect of Eileen and her family, the one thing other than the Prince name that Eileen had still clung to - the family’s interest and involvement in the occult.

The Prince family believed themselves special not only because of their wealth and heritage, but also because of the presence of psychics, real psychics, in their family, along with people, like Eileen, who could see ghosts. Mysticism and the occult were passed down in the family not only in the form of a sixth sense or otherworldly talents, but also in the form of tarot card decks, ouija boards and other creepy family heirlooms.

Tobias thought this was nonsense, elite, rich people games. He forbade Eileen from practicing tarot or engaging in any other occult activities. He called those things “bourgeoise nonsense.” He became violent, verbally and physically whenever he found Eileen meditating with her candles. He even began to deride her for her art, calling that bourgeoise as well. Soon, her music became an object of his ridicule and scorn as well. Everything she loved, he came to deride and despise.

Unfortunately, this included Severus as well. The boy was one hundred percent his mother’s child, just as strange and head in the clouds as her. Tobias found the boy creepy and couldn’t believe he had fathered such an odd little thing. He looked upon the boy with contempt.

Eventually, the man lost his job, when Severus was about seven, and had trouble finding work. This was when his alcoholic spiral began. 

From the time Severus was in the womb and until the time he turned nine and Tobias finally, fed up, abandoned his wife and son, all the couple ever did was fight. Eileen hadn’t known peace since before her pregnancy and for years wondered if she would ever know peace again.

Tobias leaving had been a blessing. Although, there was always the fear that he would return. Still, it had been a year since then and life had not gotten any easier, at least not mentally or financially. In some ways, it had gotten harder, as Eileen had to handle everything in life by herself, on top of being responsible for a small child. She had always been crafty and sharp but she became even more so after her marriage fell apart.

The fallen Prince’s life was a cautionary tale. She was the kind of woman people would point to when warning their daughters, the kind of woman that the neighbors called “witchy,” that people thought eccentric and odd. Some pitied her and some were too frightened of her to pity her.

Of course, in her neighborhood, everyone was poor, drug-addicted, drunk, mentally-ill, or a prostitute and she was far from being the only single mom in the building but most certainly she was the only one with such an esteemed pedigree.

Feeling strangely hopeful this morning, in spite of everything, Eileen found herself singing aloud on the fire escape and it felt good to hear her voice. It felt good not to be silent.

________________________________________________________________________

The other day in the park, Severus had been watching Lily and Petunia. Actually, he had been watching the sisters for a while now. He knew their names although he had never met them.

He felt drawn to Lily, the one with red hair, like her spirit was composed of the same things as his. He guessed that they were the same age and hidden behind a tree, he dreamed of popping out and introducing himself to her, of becoming her friend. The little prince had never felt this way about another child before.

At the public school he attended, the other boys were bullies and so he decided he didn’t like boys even though he was one, and the girls were cold and nasty, but they were still a step up from the boys.

But the girl with red hair was different, or so he imagined. Young Severus did not understand that what he was feeling was two things, 1. longing for a friend, someone who seemed kind and who didn’t know him from school as “the weird kid with the weird mom” and 2. probably his first crush, as that would explain the butterflies in his stomach whenever he saw her.

The other girl, who was a bit older, seemed to him a bit like the girls from school - bossy, cold, not particularly pleasant. He wondered how he could introduce himself to the red-haired girl without having to talk to the petulant blonde girl. It seemed like an impossible feat. The two were always together.

Sitting all alone behind the tree, young Severus Snape plotted his plan to catch the red-haired girl alone. He spent so much time mapping out his plan that he started to think that the biggest problem would not be anything in the plan itself, but rather his own lack of courage to actually follow through on it.

All the boy wanted was a friend.

He didn’t have a father and that was probably for the best because the memories he did have of his father were not pleasant, to say the least. When he thought of Tobias Snape, all that came to his mind was the sound of yelling and the image of fists in the air. Another reason to dislike members of his own gender. Most other males he encountered were so loud and aggressive and he couldn’t relate to that energy at all.

Severus came to identify very much with his mother. When he wasn’t at school or at the park watching Lily, then he was at home reading books way beyond his grade level and when he wasn’t reading, then he was sitting at the table with Eileen, listening to her tell stories, some true and some made-up, although the line between the two was often blurred. And when Eileen wasn’t telling stories, then she was teaching him, about art, music, and yes, the occult. 

Under his mother’s influence, Severus grew to love quiet activities, such as cooking, painting, drawing, and meditating, among others. He was a gentle, timid boy and sadly this made him a target. He got bullied at school for keeping a diary, which some of his tormentors had found, and for having “girly” handwriting. The fact that he disliked sports made him less popular than he already was. Severus was not only too effeminate for a boy, but also nerdy as well. Not to mention he was gifted, and at his ordinary school, the other students resented him for this.

But next year, Severus would turn eleven, which meant that he would be starting middle school and he wasn’t going to be attending an ordinary middle school. Severus’s superior intelligence had not gone unnoticed. He had won a scholarship, one of just a handful, for underprivileged children, to attend a private 6th-12th grade prep school in Manhattan.

The melancholy little prince was finally starting to see silver linings in the grey clouds that hung around his head. Next year, he would be riding into the city by himself on the bus or the train. The thought of that new level of independence thrilled him. He wouldn’t have to deal with a bunch of dunderheads anymore and he wouldn’t be a victim of bullying, because smart people from good families don’t engage in such behavior do they? He would finally meet people like him and have friends and make good memories. The next coming years would be the best years of his life he thought. 

Mother was so proud of him too and that made him smile. Eileen was his whole world. He wanted to be the very best, not just for himself but also for her. If the stories she told were true, the Prince family was of some prominence or had been. He didn’t know all the details or which ones were true, but with each passing year, he grew more and more determined to find out the truth, and to restore honor to the Prince name, even if he himself was a lowly Snape. He never thought of himself that way though, his father was out of the picture. Everything in his life revolved around his maternal side.

______________________________________________________________________

Eileen and Severus were in the kitchen, making herbal tea together. 

“You're happy it’s summer vacation, aren’t you?” Eileen said, making small talk and knowing her son struggled at his current school.

Severus nodded as Eileen placed a cup of calming chamomile in front of him.

“It’s just one more year. I know that seems like forever to someone your age but trust me, a year goes by before you know it.” Eileen snapped her fingers. “Then you’ll be at an entirely new school, one more suited to a boy of your caliber.”

Severus couldn’t hide his smile at that but he also had something on his mind that was troubling him.

“Mom, is it true what people say about us….that we’re...strange?” He asked hesitantly.

The older Prince now had a sour expression on her face. “Oh Sev, you shouldn’t care what other people say. It doesn’t matter. And no, I don’t think we’re strange. Perhaps a bit different but certainly not strange.”

“Isn’t it the same thing though, strange and different?” Severus answered back.

Eileen sighed. “This is about your new middle school isn’t it? You’re worried about making friends there.”

The blush that crept over his cheeks and the bridge of his hook nose confirmed his mother’s inquiry.

He groaned a bit before saying, “I just don’t want to have a hard time, is all.”

“My dear…” the pain in his voice wracked Eileen with guilt, her boy suffered because she was his mother. It was all her fault.

The worst part was that Eileen knew she was feeding him lies about his new school. She kept telling him how accepting everyone would be but in reality she knew that he was in for another rude awakening. The boy was a fish about to enter a shark tank, a poor boy from Brooklyn about to be thrown into a sea of spoiled, Manhattan brats. She could only hope that he would find the other scholarship kids and make it through with them.

“I hope the other kids will like to read and that they won’t look at me like I’m crazy when I use big words.”

Eileen laughed. “That won’t be a problem. I’m sure.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t tell them that we can see dead people or that we sit in the dark with candles and hum. That’s probably why everyone at my current school thinks we’re strange.”

The thirty-two year old mother looked distraught. “No, you shouldn’t tell them that. It’s best not to share that information. Every family has secrets. We should keep them.”

The little prince stared into his teacup as if he were reading tea leaves and nodded.

________________________________________________________________

“There’s a red-headed girl who’s always in the park too. She picks all the flowers and throws them in the air.”

“You know Sev, you could go up and say hi instead of just watching her from a distance.” Eileen chided.

The red that colored Severus’s cheeks and the bridge of his nose revealed his shame at his shyness.

“She’s always with this blonde girl though, her sister and she seems mean, kind of snotty.” Sev made an excuse.

“Well, you won’t know what happens unless you talk to them.” The raven-haired woman insisted. “It will be good practice for making friends at your new school.”

Severus spun his pasta around his fork, twirling it absentmindedly as he considered what his mother said.

______________________________________________________________________

“Is something troubling you, my dear?” 

Eileen noticed that Severus wasn’t focusing on his finger painting as intently as he normally did. He seemed absent-minded.

Severus was silent but Eileen kept a stern eye on him, raising her brows.

The boy let out a deep breath he was holding in, as he continued to apathetically smatter paint on his easel, avoiding Eileen’s gaze.

“What if he comes back?” The young prince revealed his deepest fear.

The older Prince could not hide the worry on her face, as this was her deepest fear as well.

“He won’t come back.” She lied through her teeth, just as she had lied about the new school being a safe space.

Severus knew she was lying, or at least faking confidence or choosing to believe in something unlikely.

“But it’s a possibility…” The boy, who looked as greasy and disheveled as his finger painting that day, muttered under his breath

“You can’t think that way Sev.” Eileen reprimanded as she worked on an oil painting.

The messy boy rolled his eyes and said in almost a whisper, “I can’t not think about it.” And this was the truth, his nightmares being the only things that forced him to confront the possibility even more than his waking thoughts.

__________________________________________________________________________

“Mother? Are you alright?” Sev asked as he creaked the door open.

“Go, get out, get out!” Eileen had been holed up in her bedroom for two days, without food, with all the curtains drawn.

The way she responded, Severus knew that she was having one of her emotionally disturbed episodes. 

She would probably be normal again in another day. Sev would have to make sure she took her medicine though.

Not wanting to be home with her in this state, Severus took a walk to the library in the nicer part of town, twenty blocks from his home. It was air-conditioned, another perk of the place. He stayed there all afternoon.

In the early evening, on his way home, Severus passed the park that separated his nasty side of town with the more respectable side of town.

He knew the sisters wouldn’t be there because they obviously lived in the better part of town and the park, while safe in the day, became kinda sketchy as the sun set.

He thought about what his mother had said, when she was in a normal state of mind, about how he needed to step out of his shell more. She was right.

As he passed the park, he promised himself that he would introduce himself to the sisters, or at least to the red-haired one.

He would be in middle school soon, it was about time he grew a spine and stopped being so painfully shy. Besides, girls could get away with that kind of behavior but sadly, boys weren’t given such leeway. He didn’t want to be seen as weak.

Severus hadn’t yet learned about the “strong, silent” type, all he knew was that obnoxious, aggressive behavior was rewarded at school. He hated himself for not fitting the mold.

The little prince swore to himself that he would be more brave, or at least, a little less quiet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for reading ~
> 
> *Quick clarification- manic depression is now known as bipolar disorder, but back in the 70s it still went by the former name and there was obviously greater stigma back then as well. Lithium was introduced in the 70s.


	3. A Fistful of Flowers (Severus & the Evans Sisters)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a light chapter, so no content warnings.

“A kiss with a fist is better than none”

\- _Kiss With a Fist_ , Florence & The Machine

  
  


_September, 1970 - Brooklyn, New York_

  


Sitting under the same tree he always sat under, with a book in his lap, Severus decided that today was going to be the day- the day he would introduce himself to the red-headed girl.

He would waltz on over to her with his book in one hand, and a flower in the other. 

At any given time, he always had one book on his person and since he didn’t have any kind of bag except for his one big raggedy backpack for school, the boy always just tucked the book under his arm. 

Part of him hoped the girl wouldn’t notice it, and then find him strange for bringing a book to the park by himself and another part of him hoped that she would notice and ask him about it and then he would have something to speak confidently about. 

The flower would be an offering, a token of friendship, because she obviously liked flowers (and he did too, although he had a habit of crumpling them up in his fist nervously as he sat in the grass) and was named after a flower. But he would pretend not to know her name already because he didn’t want her to know that he had been spying on her all summer. That was probably weird and he was kind of ashamed of being that curious about another child.

“Just because you’ll be going to some stupid, fancy middle school in the city next year doesn’t mean you’re special. So don’t go and get a big head.” Severus overheard the nasty blonde sneer at the red-headed girl.

“You didn’t seem to think it was stupid when you took the exam to go there and didn’t pass. I remember you cried and begged mom and dad to find another way to get you in.” Lily retorted.

Petunia’s face became red and pinched with anger. “That was years ago! I don’t care anymore! I think it’s totally overrated. Let Harper Academy have you. I don’t want to be a nerd anyway.” She crossed her arms indignantly.

Lily smirked and continued walking ahead as her older sister fumed behind her. Although she did feel bad for the girl, and wished that they could attend school together - they were sisters and best friends after all- it was difficult to conjure up sympathy when Petunia acted so petty towards her.

“Harper Academy?!” Severus couldn’t believe what he had heard. That was the school he would be attending.

Emboldened by this revelation, Severus left his shady spot under the tree and started walking Lily’s way. Petunia trudging far behind in the background was an added bonus. He could get Lily alone.

A breeze came blowing through and seemed to almost push the raven-haired boy and the red-headed girl even closer towards each other.

“He-hello” Severus stammered as he held a dandelion out to her. She looked at it curiously but she didn’t take it. The girl still had the remnants of petals from the flowers she had been picking and throwing around on her hands.

Unfortunately, it was at that moment that Petunia started running and caught up with her sister.

With her hands akimbo, the older Evans sister looked Severus up and down and then glanced at her sister.

“Lily, what are you doing, talking to weirdos?” She said in her judgemental tone.

Hearing the insult, Severus lost his cool. “I’m not a weirdo. I’m gifted! I’ll be starting at Harper Academy next year! I overheard you talking about it.”

“You? At Harper Academy? You’re clearly from the other side of the park. I don’t think they let your kind into nice schools like that.” The abrasive sister scoffed. 

“You’re one to talk. I just heard you took the test to get in and you failed. So really it’s your kind, morons that is, who aren’t welcome at schools like that.”

The blonde certainly knew how to dish it out but she did not know how to take it. Severus’s words cut her, digging into an already fresh wound. Afraid she would tear up in front of him and her sister, she let go of her responsibility as a big sister and ran off to be by herself, perhaps to have a private crying session behind a bush over her painful ordinariness. 

Lily on the other hand, was experiencing a strange mix of emotions. This boy had approached her so shyly and sweetly and yet quickly became so caustic when her sister entered the picture.

But her sister had started it, had she not? Marching over all grumpy- she was always so grumpy these days- it seemed like that was becoming her entire personality. And then without any provocation she had harshly insulted and made negative assumptions about the boy. 

Lily knew what he said in reply was mean but he had a right to bite back, didn’t he? And Petunia certainly had it coming. Besides, Lily had just been taunting her sister herself, and again, she had deserved it.

The dark-eyed boy looked intensely into her emerald green eyes, and Lily, without thinking, had the sudden impulse to take the dandelion from his hand and she did. She blew it, as one did with dandelions.

“Did you just make a wish?” The boy asked, surprised by her impulsive action.

“Yep.” The fey-like girl replied, grinning.

“What did you wish for?”

She laughed. “Well, you’re not supposed to tell...but, I wished for us to be friends.”

Young Severus couldn’t believe his ears, which were most certainly red at the moment. He made the right choice in introducing himself, even if the older, blonde girl did prove as vitriolic as he had expected.

He smiled, something rare for him. “I guess your wish came true then. From now on, we are friends, and soon we’ll be classmates too.”

For the whole rest of that afternoon, Lily and Severus played in the park together. Severus came to replace Petunia as Lily’s buddy that day and would, for many more days to come. The two just had so much more in common with each other than the sisters did with each other. 

Although, Lily would come to see over time how the dark boy and her sister with the perpetual grey cloud floating over her head, were far more alike than they would ever feel comfortable knowing.

Lying in the grass at one point as they talked about their new school and their current lives, Lily confessed that she didn’t understand why her sister was so crabby lately. 

Severus turned his head to her and said, “She’s jealous. She’s ordinary and you’re special.”

“That’s mean.” Lily chastised him.

He shrugged. “It’s the truth. The truth isn’t always nice.”

Lily took a fistful of flowers in her hand and threw them at him, but there was no real aggression in the act and Severus playfully threw them right back at her.

Their friendship bloomed that day and it would continue to blossom.

In Severus’s mind, he imagined this special friend of his would always be a part of his life, destined to grow together.

But the truth isn’t always nice.

Friendships, like flowers, often wilt and die.

And in reality, they were destined to grow apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Until next time ~
> 
> -ST

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This first chapter was a bit of a warm-up.


End file.
